Benefit Programs Offered at Businesses with 10 to 1,000 Employees

In Table 18 below, comparisons can be made with 4 previous year's benefit offerings. There are some significant differences between responses from this most recent quarter and 1st quarter 2007 - indicated with "SIG" below. Significantly more employees (23%) reported being offered defined benefit plans by their employer compared to 1st quarter 2007 (18%). The number of employees (29%) reporting their company offers tuition reimbursement went down from 1st quarter 2007 (33%).

Benefit Satisfaction

Upon identifying what benefits they are being offered through their employers, employees were asked to rate their satisfaction with some of the major benefits. Employees are most satisfied (rating of 8, 9 or 10 on a 10 point scale) with their defined benefit plan (61%), defined contribution plan (58%), profit sharing/bonus plan (55%), and their health insurance (53%). Only one benefit had a significant increase in satisfaction this quarter - health insurance when compared with 1st quarter 2007. Table 19 illustrates all benefits listed and ratings.

Table 19"Although you may have mentioned more than appear below, you indicated that you have the following benefit program(s) through your company. Using a scale from "1" to "10", where "1" means Not At All Satisfied and "10" means Very Satisfied, please indicate how satisfied you are with each benefit program."Percentages included in chart represent those rating satisfaction as an 8, 9 or 10.
Base: varies by benefit offered by employer

Each employee respondent was asked to identify what benefits they would most like their employer to offer, aside from those already offered. As Table 20 shows, consistently we have seen defined benefit plans, profit sharing/bonus plans, and flexible work schedules topping the list of those desired.

Table 20"Which one employee benefit do you most wish that your company would offer you (excluding vacation and holidays)?"
Base: 1,315 employed U.S. adults in firms of 10-1,000 employees

Aside from those benefits employees would like to see added to their employer's benefit programs, they were also asked to identify what benefits they would like to have improved upon. The top 2 benefits mentioned are health insurance (41%) and defined contribution plans (16%) - see Table 21 for additional detail.

Table 21"Which one employee benefit (excluding vacation and holidays) do you most wish that your company would improve upon?"
Base: 1,315 employed U.S. adults in firms of 10-1,000 employees

Benefit Importance

All employee respondents were asked to rate a group of benefits in terms of how important they are on a 10-point scale with 10 being "Very Important." Health insurance and defined contribution plans are consistently rated as the top two most important benefits. As shown in Table 22, life insurance has seen a significantly higher importance level this quarter compared to last quarter (based on top 3 box importance ratings).

Females (57%) are significantly more likely than males (45%) to rate disability insurance as important to them.

Table 22"Using a scale from "1" to "10", where "1" means Not At All Important and "10" means Very Important, please indicate how important each benefit program is to you."
Percentages included in chart represent those rating importance as an 8, 9 or 10.
Base: 1,316 employed U.S. adults in firms of 10-1,000 employees

Health Coverage Changes

As noted above, health insurance is the top benefit employees would like their employer to improve upon. To better understand what types of changes employees have seen recently in their health coverage, employees were asked to select from a list those changes they've seen in the past 12 months. Nearly half of employees (46%) have not seen any of these changes occur in the last 12 months. As illustrated in Table 23, the largest proportion of employees who have seen changes have seen increases in co-pays (35%), increases in deductibles (31%), and reduced medical benefit coverage options (14%). In comparing this quarter's results with those of 1st quarter 2007, there have been no significant changes.

Table 23"Over the past 12 months, has your employer made any of the following changes in your health care coverage?"
Percentages included in chart represent those rating importance as an 8, 9 or 10.
Base: 1,220 employed U.S. adults in firms of 10-1,000 employees (employees with health insurance)

Pension Plan Changes

There has recently been news of companies freezing or ending their defined benefit plans. We wanted to see if this has been happening in companies of 10-1,000 employees. Table 24 shows three percent of the respondents have had their defined benefit plans frozen or ended within the past year. Forty-eight percent of the respondents have never had a defined benefit plan and six percent haven't had a defined benefit plan for over a year. Forty-three percent have not had their defined benefit plan frozen or ended in the past year.

Significantly more employees (48%) reported their company has never offered a defined benefit pension plan than the last time this question was asked in 1st quarter 2006 (40%).

Respondents who have had their pension plan frozen within the past year were asked if their company offered any other programs or services to help prepare for retirement. The services or programs most frequently offered were automatic enrollment for defined contribution plans/401(k) (17%) and financial planning advice or guidance from the company (17%). Since only 35 employees have had their pension plan frozen within the past year, these percentages should be used directionally only.

Table 25"Has your company added any other programs or services to help you prepare for retirement? Please select all that apply."
Base: 35* U.S. Adults age 18+ who have had their pension frozen in the past year

Retirement

1 Qtr 2008

1 Qtr 2006

Automatic enrollment for defined contribution plan/401(k)

17%

21%

Financial planning advice or guidance on site at company, via the phone or web, etc

Benefits for Recruiting & Retention

Firms with 10 to 1,000 employees offer employee benefits to aid in the recruiting and retaining of quality employees. To measure how employees react to the presence of good employee benefits, a series of agree statements were asked. Results obtained this quarter were similar to those obtained in 1st quarter of 2007. Sixty-four percent of employees agreed that having a good employee benefits plan encourages them to work harder and perform better; the same percentage of employees agreed that having a good employee benefits plan keeps them working for their current company. Nearly three out of ten (28%) employees agree that their company is concerned about their long-term financial future.

Table 26"Please indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree with the following statements."
Base: 1,316 employed U.S. adults in firms of 10-1,000 employees

Having a good employee benefits plan encourages me to work harder and perform better.

64%

66%

62%

67%

71%

Having a good employee benefits plan keeps me working for my current company.

64%

62%

59%

62%

60%

My company is concerned about my long-term financial future.

28%

29%

25%

26%

25%

Job Security

Job security continues to top the importance chart when compared to long-term financial future and challenging work. Just about half of the employees (49%) ranked job security as most important to them, compared to long-term financial future and challenging work. In reviewing responses from 2006, there have been no significant changes.

Table 27"Please rank the following items in terms of how important it is to you."
Base: 1,316 employed U.S. adults in firms of 10-1,000 employees

Respondent Ranked Item #1

1 Qtr 2008

1 Qtr 2006

1 Qtr 2005

1 Qtr 2004

Job Security

49%

47%

47%

52%

Long-Term Financial Future

37%

40%

36%

31%

Challenging Work

14%

13%

17%

17%

Corporate Bonuses

Nearly three out of ten employees (28%) received a corporate bonus for 2007. As shown in Table 29, similar to last year, the bonus was most often used to pay down or pay off short term debts (33%), to purchase gifts during the holiday season (32%) and was saved or invested (29%). However, significantly fewer employees (4%) used their bonus for a big ticket item than last year (8%).

Table 28"Did you receive a corporate bonus for 2006?"
Base: 1,316 employed U.S. adults in firms of 10-1,000 employees

Corporate Bonus

1 Qtr 2008 EE

1 Qtr 2007 EE

1 Qtr 2006 EE

Yes

28%

31%

25%

No

72%

69%

45%

Table 29"How did you use it?" Select all that apply.
Base: 381 employed U.S. adults in firms of 10-1,000 employees who did receive a corporate bonus for 2007

Employees who received a bonus for 2007 were asked if this bonus was higher, lower, or about the same value as the bonus they received for 2006. Nearly four out of ten (38%) employees said their 2007 bonus was about the same as their 2006 bonus. Another third or so (35%) said their bonus was actually higher. Table 32 displays the specific value amounts for these higher bonuses. A quarter of those employees who received a higher bonus said their bonus was in the $1 to $500 range, while another third (34%) indicated their bonus was between $1,000 and $2,499.

Table 30"Was the corporate bonus you received for 2007 higher or lower than the bonus you received for 2006?"
Base: 381 employed U.S. adults in firms of 10-1,000 employees

401(k) Deferral

Eighty-two percent of employees who are eligible to participate in a defined contribution plan say they are currently participating. Table 33 shows participation rates by age category. Employees between the ages of 18 and 34 years have the lowest participation rate.

For employees eligible to participate in the 401(k) plan, they were also asked to identify what percent of their annual salary was being deferred into those plans. As shown in Table 34, 17% of all eligible employees said they don't currently defer any of their salary. Thirty percent contribute 1-5% of their salary. Thirty-one percent contribute 6 to 10% of their salary. Fifteen percent contribute 11% of their salary or more.

Table 35 shows the percentages employees feel they should be deferring so they could be comfortable in retirement. Forty-three percent feel they should be deferring 11% or more. There is clearly a gap between reality and employees taking their own advice.

Table 33
“Are you currently participating in your defined contribution plan (such as a 401(k) plan, etc.)?”
Base: 945 employed U.S. adults in firms of 10-1,000 employees who are eligible to participate

Defined Contribution Plan

1 Qtr 2008

3 Qtr 2007

1 Qtr 2008 EE Age Groups

EE

EE

18-34

35-44

45-54

55+

Yes

82%

84%

75%

86%

83%

87%

No

18%

16%

25%

14%

17%

13%

N=945

N=911

N=271

N=208

N=254

N=212

Table 34"How much of your annual pre-tax salary do you currently defer to your 401(k) retirement plan?"
Base: 945 employed U.S. adults in firms of 10-1,000 employees that are eligible to participate

Table 35"How much of your annual pre-tax salary do you think you should be deferring to your 401(k) retirement plan to be comfortable in retirement?"
Base: 945 employed U.S. adults in firms of 10-1,000 employees that are eligible to participate

No Participation in Employer's 401(k) Plan

Respondents who are not participating in their employer sponsored retirement plan say the main reason is because they lack the financial resources to contribute to the plan (57%). The percentage of employees (43%) reporting they are not participating in their employer sponsored retirement plan because they lack the financial resources to contribute to the plan was significantly lower in the 3rd quarter of 2007, the last time this question was asked.

Table 36"What are the main reasons you are not participating in your company's retirement plan?" Please select all that apply.
Base: 154 employed U.S. adults in firms of 10-1,000 employees who are not participating in their employer sponsored retirement plan

Asset Allocation Changes

Employees participating in their employer sponsored 401(k) plan were asked how recently they have changed their asset allocation for their specific funds within their plan. Results indicate employees make changes very seldom, if ever, in their asset allocation. Approximately half (49%) of employees report having never made a change to their asset allocation, up significantly from 1st quarter of 2007 (43%). See Table 37 for additional detail.

Table 37"How recently have you changed your asset allocation regarding specific funds in your 401(k) retirement plan?"
Base: 791 employed U.S. adults in firms of 10-1,000 employees who are eligible to participate in an employer sponsored plan and are participating

Default Option for Employer Sponsored Plan

Employees eligible to participate in their employer sponsored retirement plan were asked what their company's default option is if they do not select an investment choice for their contributions. Nearly six out of ten (58%) of employees do not know what their company's default option is for their 401(k) plan. The most commonly selected default options included money market accounts (16%) and stable value funds (9%).

Table 38"If you participate in your employer's 401(k) plan but do not select an investment choice for your contributions, your contributions will automatically be invested in an account that your employer selects as a default option. Which one of the following types of accounts has your employer selected as your company's default option?"
Base: 945 employed U.S. adults in firms of 10-1,000 employees who are eligible to participate in their employer sponsored plan

Retirement Plan

1 Qtr 2008 EE

Money Market Account

16%

Stable Value Fund

9%

Guaranteed Interest Account

7%

Life Cycle/Target Date Fund

6%

Other

5%

Not sure

58%

Employees Not Offered 401(k) Plan

Employees whose employer does not offer a 401(k) plan were asked how they are saving for retirement. The most commonly selected modes of retirement saving included checking accounts/savings accounts (47%), IRAs (33%), and mutual funds (28%).

One out of five employees not offered a 401(k) plan through their employer reported that they are not saving for retirement at all. When asked what it would take to get them to save for retirement, 74% said they are not able to save for their retirement right now under their financial circumstances. Eighteen percent indicated their employer would need to offer a plan in order to get them to save and the same percentage said tax credits or other tax advantage improvements would need to be made to get them to save. See Table 40 for details.

Table 39"How are you saving for retirement, if at all? Please select all that apply."
Base: 371 employed U.S. adults in firms of 10-1,000 employees who are not eligible to participate in their employer sponsored plan

Retirement Plan

1 Qtr 2008 EE

Checking account/savings accounts

47%

IRAs

33%

Mutual funds

28%

Stocks

23%

CDs

23%

Defined benefit (pension) plan

23%

Annuity

9%

Savings bonds

9%

Bonds

6%

Other

11%

I'm not saving for retirement

21%

Table 40"What would it take to get you to save for retirement? Please select all that apply."
Base: 86* employed U.S. adults in firms of 10-1,000 employees who are not eligible to participate in their employer sponsored plan and are not saving in other ways

Retirement Plan

1 Qtr 2008 EE

I'm unable to save right now under my financial circumstances

74%

My employer starts offering a plan

18%

Tax credits or other tax advantages are improved

18%

I'm not interested in saving

6%

IRA limits are raised

5%

I will save only if the government requires me to save through new law (mandatory coverage)

1%

*Caution: small base; data should be used directionally

401(k) Automatic Enrollment

In today's society, people are interested in having others handle their matters for them rather than doing it themselves. This is also true related to retirement planning and investments and the trend has been labeled "do it for me." To examine this trend in the 10 to 1,000 employee marketplace, employees were asked to answer a variety of questions related to this trend.

Automatic enrollment is a program that some employers put into place to aid in retirement plan participation and to encourage employees to save for the future. In automatic enrollment, the employer enrolls all eligible employees into their retirement plan and starts the deferral process by imposing a minimum deferral rate. To identify what the penetration of automatic enrollment is, employees were asked if their employer had automatic enrollment - 21% offer it. This is the same percentage of employees that reported automatic enrollment in 1st quarter of 2007. Table 41 also shows the penetration of automatic enrollment by firm size.

Forty-eight percent of the employees surveyed agree completely or somewhat that all eligible employees should be auto-enrolled. This is a significant increase from the percentage of employees (41%) who agreed completely or somewhat that eligible employees should be auto enrolled in 1st quarter of 2007.

Table 42"All eligible employees should be automatically enrolled into their employer-sponsored 401(k) retirement plan and a standard deferral rate set up."
Base: 1,316 employed U.S. adults in firms of 10-1,000 employees

Disability Income Insurance

Respondents were provided a list of potential things that could happen and asked which is most likely to happen over the course of a year. Approximately seven out of ten employees (69%) said none of these things are most likely to happen over the course of a year; this is a significant increase from 1st quarter of 2006 when a little over half (51%) indicated none of these things were likely to happen. Furthermore, significantly fewer employees currently believe they will see a doctor for stress, anxiety or depression (15% vs. 24% in 1st quarter 2006), fewer employees believe they will be involved in a motor vehicle accident (9% vs. 15% in 1st quarter 2006), and fewer employees believe they will suffer a bad back that keeps them out of work (5% vs. 8% in 1st quarter 2006).

Table 43"Which of the following do you believe is most likely to happen during the course of a year?"
Base: 1,316 employed U.S. adults in firms of 10-1,000 employees

Forty percent of employees feel not at all knowledgeable about individually owned disability income insurance. Only 8% of employees feel either very or extremely knowledgeable about this type of insurance. See Table 44 for details.

Table 44"How knowledgeable do you feel about individually owned disability income insurance?"
Base: 1,316 employed U.S. adults in firms of 10-1,000 employees

1 Qtr 2008 EE

Extremely knowledgeable

2%

Very knowledgeable

6%

Knowledgeable

19%

Somewhat unknowledgeable

34%

Not at all knowledgeable

40%

N=1,316

Twelve percent of employees reported having ever been in an accident or had an illness that caused them to be out of work for an extended length of time.

Table 45"Have you ever been in an accident or had an illness that caused you to be out of work for an extended period of time (more than three months)?"
Base: 1,316 employed U.S. adults in firms of 10-1,000 employees

Compared to 1st quarter of 2006, employees are significantly less likely to rate their likelihood of becoming disabled due to an accident or illness and being unable to work for an extended period of time during their lifetime as either very likely (2% vs. 5% in 1st quarter 2006) or somewhat likely (15% vs. 20% in 1st quarter 2006). See Table 46 for additional details.

Table 46"What do you think is your likelihood of becoming disabled due to an accident or illness and being unable to work for an extended period of time (more than three months) during your lifetime?"
Base: 1,162 respondents who have not had an accident or illness that caused them to miss work for an extended period of time

If employees were to become disabled and could not maintain their employment in their current job, the most commonly selected means of maintaining their current standard of living was to depend upon disability insurance benefits through their employer's disability insurance coverage (43%). Another commonly selected means of financially maintaining their current standard of living included relying on their spouse/significant other or family, cited by 38% of employees which is a significant increase from 1st quarter of 2006 (33%). Another three out of ten employees indicated they would make withdrawals from their personal savings in order to maintain their current standard of living in the event of a disability, while 20% said they would make hardship withdrawals from their retirement savings. See Table 47 for full details.

Table 47"If you became disabled and were unable to be employed in your current job, which of the following best represents how you would financially maintain your current standard of living" Please select all that apply.
Base: 1,316 employed U.S. adults in firms of 10-1,000 employees

Eighteen percent of employees personally own a disability income insurance policy on themselves, a significant increase from 1st quarter 2006 when 13% of employees reported owning such a policy.

Table 48"Do you personally own a disability income insurance policy on yourself (an individual policy where you pay 100 % of the premium)?"
Base: 1,316 employed U.S. adults in firms of 10-1,000 employees

Employees' ability to save for retirement continues to be a main concern for employees regarding their current financial situation, with six out of ten employees citing this as a main concern. A concern which has been selected by significantly more employees (49%) than in 1st quarter 2006 (44%) is covering monthly expenses. As in 1st quarter 2006, employees continue to be concerned about reducing their credit card or other short-term debt (41%). In contrast, while still selected by 37% of employees as a main concern, protecting financial assets due to an unexpected event was selected by significantly more employees (46%) in 1st quarter of 2006.

Table 49"Which of the following are the main concerns you have regarding your current financial situation?" Please select all that apply.
Base: 1,316 employed U.S. adults in firms of 10-1,000 employees